Democratic Squishes

ek, how can you possibly be so callous? Does not your blood boil and you soul cry out for vengance?

Look, I’m an avid war gamer and have been for decades so I not only appreciate firepower, I admire it in the way only someone who’s never, ever worn a uniform or even owned a gun (though I am an NRA certified Pro-Marksman which means mostly that I can hit an 8 and a half by 11 inch sheet of paper more often than not from up to 10 full yards away!) can.

So you may justifiably call me under-qualified for the judgement I’m about to make.

The United States, and by extension the rest of the Western World, is a nation of cowards.

In 2012 92 people a day died in traffic accidents. You could look it up. Some were drunken assholes and some were mommies and daddies who’s families were left broken.

That’s 10 World Trade Centers a year, 30,800 all told.

Does that scare you? Have you stopped driving?

The answer is- of course not. People die every day.

So why this fetish about terrorism? Is it somehow more unexpected than that telephone pole which jumped in front of you? I lived through one of those and was lucky to do it, all it wrecked was my car (and the pole, but it deserved it’s fate, it tried to kill me).

It’s the intent ek. Looking down the barrel at your sure extinction.

Which is different from seeing the 90 mile an hour headlights heading at you on the wrong side of the road how? Yes, survived one of those too.

What bothered me the most is that the cops, in hot pursuit, adrenaline enraged, were ALSO driving down the wrong side of the highway.

Folks, driving down the wrong side of the interstate is no solution to any problem except the continuing pain of existence.

And once again we are at one of those moments where we can chose which side of the road. We know what doesn’t work. Is more of the same the solution? If you answered yes I can only suggest Albert Einstein’s College for the Congenitally Insane.

Instead I offer this- Leave. Now. We don’t need an empire and it doesn’t need us.

As for my title. I strongly suspect that momentary passions will drive the Democratic candidates (including Bernie who totally fails the squish test already despite being rock solid on other issues, who says I am not a pragmatist?) into making bellicose comments that are wrongheaded (what about insane are we not understanding?) and counter-productive.

Greetings, Professor Falken.

Hello, Joshua.

A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?

The whole point was to find a way to practice nuclear war without destroying ourselves. To get the computers to learn from mistakes we couldn’t afford to make. Except, I never could get Joshua to learn the most important lesson.

What’s that?

Futility. That there’s a time when you should just give up.

What kind of a lesson is that?

Did you ever play tic-tac-toe?

Yeah, of course.

But you don’t anymore.

No.

Why?

Because it’s a boring game. It’s always a tie.

Exactly. There’s no way to win. The game itself is pointless! But back at the war room, they believe you can win a nuclear war. That there can be “acceptable losses.”

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    • on 11/14/2015 at 18:53
      Author

    Vent Hole

    • on 11/14/2015 at 18:54
      Author

    And you can consider this an open thread about tonight’s stupidity.

    • on 11/14/2015 at 19:21

    The “great debate” is to watch the debate or “Dr. Who.”

    I can DVR either but where is the fun of that when I can get really blotto with a drinking game by taking a drink every time ISIS (ISIL, Diesh, whatever} is mentioned tonight. The stupidity that was on MSNBC today was astounding.

    Did you know that the Paris attacks are all Edward Snowden’s fault??? Yup, because now those dastardly terrorists are either not using cell phones or using encryption that the NSA/FBI can’t crack. MSNBC kept dragging out a couple of war mongering hacks to spout that nonsense.

    • on 11/14/2015 at 20:33

    Deputy NYC Police Com. John Miller on the pre-date show babbling about how the FBI can’t crack encryption codes on new smart phones, so we can’t spy on everyone. No, John, you neocon ass, it’s so crooks can’t steal my private information. Idjut

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:03

    Oh I can tweet this, too??? #DemDebate. Let’s see just how dumb this gets

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:05

    And two minutes of commercials. Walmart of course

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:06

    Opening statements: Bernie first

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:07

    Now Hiillary

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:07

    Now Hillary

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:08

    Andd last, but not least, Martin

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:10

    ISIS question to Hillary. ISIS cannot be contained. It must be defeated. Use diplomacy and support those who will take up the fight. this cannot be an American fight

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:11

    Hillary is setting the moderator straight about the situation in Iraq when Obama took office

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:13

    Martin say ISI is America’s fight. Spouts misinformation about Egyptian airline crash and paris

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:14

    Bernie wants international coalition to fight ISIS.Blames vote on Iraq

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:16

    Hillary responds to Bernie’s criticism of her vote

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:18

    Martin responds that Iraq had consequences when US disbanded the Iraqi army.

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:19

    Bernie: Middle East countries need to get boots on the ground and stand against ISIS

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:20

    Hillary asked about Libya

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:22

    Hillery calls North Africa- ME an Arc of Instability. Yes, and the US created it

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:24

    Bernie shifts the consequences of war to caring for our vets

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:25

    Hillary: term “radical Islamists” is not a helpful term. Need for respect.

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:28

    Martin: Muslim Americans are our front line defense

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:29

    Hillsry: AUMF needs to be updated by Congress

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:31

    Bernie: need for major military reform to make it more effective and efficient

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:33

    All agree about screening incoming refugees

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:34

    I’m not hearing anything about getting out of the Middle East

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:37

    Next topic:: Economy

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:38

    Hillary: tax the wealthy more; closing loopholes

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:39

    Hillary: Fix the way we negotiate drug pricing with the pharmaceutical industry

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:40

    Martin: tax capital gains the way other wages are taxed, raise taxes on wealthy

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:41

    Bernie: end corporate loop holes, tax wall street, tec

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:45

    Healthcare

    Hillary: build on and improve ACA; keep costs down

    Bernie: ACA can be improved. Fix the pharmaceutical mess. All people should have healthcare. US spends too much on healthcare

    Martin: doesn’t get a chance to respond

    • on 11/14/2015 at 21:56

    Immigration Reform:

    Martin: We have been focusing border security to the exclusion of immigration. Need for comprehensive immigratikion refoem with pathway to citizenship

    Hillary: Addresses presidential authority with regard to immigration.

    Bernie: Need for a living wage of $15/hr. Reason for high unemployment is low waegs. Higher wages would increase jobs & help the economy

    Martin: We did it in Maryland and it worked

    Bernie: It works in other cities

    Hillary: It doesn’t cause jobs to be lost. National minimum should be $12. Big cities could & should go higher

    • on 11/14/2015 at 22:09

    Wall Street/Campaign Finance

    Hillary: Wall St. Billionaires already opposing her. Wants to go after hedge funds and shadow bankers

    Bernie: doesn’t think her answer is good enough. Wants to break up the big banks and reinstate Glass–Steagall

    Hillary: Reinstating Glass–Steagall is not good enough

    Bernie: attacking taking money from big corporations to run her campaign.

    Martin: I won’t be taking orders from Wall St. Calls Hillary’s proposal “weak tea”. Reinstate Glass–Steagall

    Hillary: We need to look at what works. I will break up the big banks and go after the executives

    Bernie: Business model of Wall. St is fraud. Wall St. representatives will not be in my cabinet

    • on 11/14/2015 at 22:19

    Guns

    Hillary: Bernie & I have different records. Admits she made a mistake about Iraq. We should reverse the immunity of gun sellers

    Bernie: refuses to reverse his decision on immunity.

    Martin: Accuses Hillary of reversing her stand.

    Bernie: Baltimore is not exactly the safest city. We need to work on agreement where ther is broad consensus

    Hillary: There is broad consensus, 92% want gun control. We need leadership to do it

    Back to Wall St.

    Bernie: Hillary is influenced by Wall St. because she doesn’t think Glass–Steagall would get the job done

    Hillary: Paul Krugman agrees with her

    Martin: We need to protect the little guy. Agrees with Larry Sanders (who was an abomination and part of the current problems)

    • on 11/14/2015 at 22:41

    Question to Bernie: How are you going to deal with the conservative revolution. Bernie goes into a stump speech.

    Asked about background checks for guns: more campaign speech

    Asked about Hillary’s e-mails. still sick of it. We need to talk about the real issues facing America

    Hillary agrees. There is a need for more Americans to be involved. Republicans are doing the opposite with voter suppression.

    On-mails; after 11 hours there is no problem with her e-mails

    GOP is putting forth alarming plans that are destructive

    Race Relations/Policing

    Martin: babbles about something he did as governor.Wouild do the same as president. Learned that black lives matter

    Bernie:Reform criminal justice system. hold police responsible. Fix minimum sentencing. Reclassify marijuana

    Hillary: Activism is justified on college campuses. Talks about meeting with mothers who lost their children to violence.

    Sanders: Free higher education an investment. Works in Germany. Make public colleges and universities free. Lower interset rates on student debt

    Martini: Need more Pell grants and block grants. Lower interest rates on education loans

    Hillary: Agrees. However, tax payers should not finance Donald Trump’s kids education

    Bernie: Guaranteed healthcare, regulate drug companies. Take on insurance & drug companies to contain costs

    Hillary: Revolution never rose for single payer/ Best solution is fix ACA

    Bernie: Expand Medicare and Medicaid. Healthcare is a right

    • on 11/14/2015 at 22:49

    Final Segment: What Crisis have you faced that qualifies you as president?

    Hillary: Advising Obama going after bin Laden

    Martin: There is no crisis at the state or local level but i have learned certain disciplines. Babbles

    Bernie: Helping our veterans and writing bills passed.

    • on 11/14/2015 at 22:53

    Closing Statements

    Martin campaigns with his stump speech. Vote for me. I need your help.

    Hillary: President’s job is to help people. I will help people and work hard. Then campaigns

    Bernie: Will fix the economy to help people. Then campaigns

    And it’s over

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